The government has finally backed down and overturned the secrecy provisions of the Border Force Act. We protected the right of professionals to report abuse, so take a second to celebrate this win. Keep watching the detention centers because our work to ensure transparency does not stop here.
September 25, 2015
Final supporters
From July 1, 2015 the Border Force Act can silence health workers, teachers, and other professionals from reporting human rights violations against asylum seekers in detention camps on Nauru and Manus Island. Despite our professional and ethical mandate to report abuse and neglect, particularly of children, doing so is now punishable by up to two years in prison.
The National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention and the current investigation by the Royal Commission into child sex abuse have unveiled the horrific conditions asylum seekers are forced to live in. The Border Force Act only further thickens the cloud of secrecy around what goes in immigration detention. Australia has the right to know. No government department should be immune to public scrutiny.
To the Minister of Immigration and Border Protection, Peter Dutton, and Prime Minister Tony Abbott, we implore you to reverse this Act. Until then, #WeWillNotBeSilenced.
Please sign to stand with us.
Updates
July 11, 2015
We hit one hundred signatures today. Post the link to your Facebook timeline and email your local MP to tell them this secrecy is unacceptable.
Reached 250 supporters
July 11, 2015
July 10, 2015
The feedback from professionals across the country proves that this law forces a choice between our conscience and our careers. I am currently reaching out to key journalists to ensure these stories of forced silence reach the public. Send this petition to your local member of parliament and demand they justify these prison threats.
Reached 100 supporters
July 9, 2015
90 Comments
As an educator it is my duty of care and my legal obligation to report any situation of child abuse made known to me in Australia - why is this mandatory reporting not an obligation for educators (as well as health and medical practitioners working with children in detention? Shame on you Abbott government policy makers!
what logic; if I don't report child abuse in society its a crime and if I work in a detention centre and report child abuse its a crime....makes about as much sense as the rest of your policies
I am a paediatric nurse and am appalled that this government believes a refugee's rights are somehow lesser than the everyday Australian's. Abuse is abuse. We won't be silenced.
The only time I have experienced this sort of gagging to not report human rights violations was under a dictatorship. It has brought back horrible memories of human rights abuses and violations and I will not sit back and be silent.
This goes against everything I'm learning as a student nurse. It is not acceptable for any nurse registered in Australia, so this should be no different - a patient is a patient.
This is horrific and must change.
How can it be that professionals that are mandated to report abuse are breaking the law if they do.
Share this petition
Share this petition to help it reach more people.
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The government has finally backed down and overturned the secrecy provisions of the Border Force Act. We protected the right of professionals to report abuse, so take a second to celebrate this win. Keep watching the detention centers because our work to ensure transparency does not stop here.
September 25, 2015
Final supporters
From July 1, 2015 the Border Force Act can silence health workers, teachers, and other professionals from reporting human rights violations against asylum seekers in detention camps on Nauru and Manus Island. Despite our professional and ethical mandate to report abuse and neglect, particularly of children, doing so is now punishable by up to two years in prison.
The National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention and the current investigation by the Royal Commission into child sex abuse have unveiled the horrific conditions asylum seekers are forced to live in. The Border Force Act only further thickens the cloud of secrecy around what goes in immigration detention. Australia has the right to know. No government department should be immune to public scrutiny.
To the Minister of Immigration and Border Protection, Peter Dutton, and Prime Minister Tony Abbott, we implore you to reverse this Act. Until then, #WeWillNotBeSilenced.
Please sign to stand with us.
Updates
July 11, 2015
We hit one hundred signatures today. Post the link to your Facebook timeline and email your local MP to tell them this secrecy is unacceptable.
Reached 250 supporters
July 11, 2015
July 10, 2015
The feedback from professionals across the country proves that this law forces a choice between our conscience and our careers. I am currently reaching out to key journalists to ensure these stories of forced silence reach the public. Send this petition to your local member of parliament and demand they justify these prison threats.
Reached 100 supporters
July 9, 2015
90 Comments
How have we become a country that imprisons and mistreats children? A country that tortures their parents, stripping them of their ability to protect their children? That threatens to imprison staff who report the truth?
As an educator it is my duty of care and my legal obligation to report any situation of child abuse made known to me in Australia - why is this mandatory reporting not an obligation for educators (as well as health and medical practitioners working with children in detention? Shame on you Abbott government policy makers!
what logic; if I don't report child abuse in society its a crime and if I work in a detention centre and report child abuse its a crime....makes about as much sense as the rest of your policies
I am a paediatric nurse and am appalled that this government believes a refugee's rights are somehow lesser than the everyday Australian's. Abuse is abuse. We won't be silenced.
The only time I have experienced this sort of gagging to not report human rights violations was under a dictatorship. It has brought back horrible memories of human rights abuses and violations and I will not sit back and be silent.
This goes against everything I'm learning as a student nurse. It is not acceptable for any nurse registered in Australia, so this should be no different - a patient is a patient.
This is horrific and must change.
How can it be that professionals that are mandated to report abuse are breaking the law if they do.
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How have we become a country that imprisons and mistreats children? A country that tortures their parents, stripping them of their ability to protect their children? That threatens to imprison staff who report the truth?